Portable communication devices support voice calling and music playback over headphones. Access to the user interface (UI) or control functions of the device requires tactile targeting of specialized hardware or software keys located on the device itself or on an attached headset. Furthermore, a user's favored pair of plug-in 3.5 mm stereo headphones will probably not have customized controls, necessitating the need to wake the device to access music control functions, or to use specialized headphones instead. Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for controlling a device that provides a convenient user interface, and does not require access to the device itself or any specialized hardware or software keys.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as “circuitry” may equally be accomplished via replacement with software instruction executions either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP). It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.